Battle "Lightest-weight" free real time AV? (Top contenders: Avira, Bitdefender, or pay for Webroot?)

[anoukq]

I have a fairly old, slow computer (albeit souped up a bit with a 1 TB Barracuda SSHD): a Toshiba Satellite C55-C5241, 8GB RAM, i5-5500u, and am running Windows 10 Home x64, everything current/updated. I use Chrome and/or Vivaldi as my browser, if that makes a difference.

I've been using Avast free for about a year and while I like the interface, I keep getting handle leaks and other problems that are really slowing me down, especially on the internet (and I've repeatedly totally uninstalled and reinstalled). It might be some incompatibility with something on my system, although I've seen in a lot of the most recent AV rankings that Avast is no longer considered lightweight compared to Avira, etc. In any event, I'm fed up with troubleshooting and just want to ditch it.

My main priority is, of course, good real-time protection, but also something as lightweight as possible (especially when on the internet). I'm also totally broke (unemployed) and not looking for much beyond standard web and file protection, preferably with heuristic/behavioral analysis--Windows firewall is fine, I use web mail so don't need spam filtering, etc.

But again, the main thing is that it be as light on resources as possible. Top contenders:

• Avira (I know the pop-ups are pretty irritating, but if it is significantly lighter, I can definitely deal); a little concerned because I thought I read somewhere that it doesn't have any sort of behavior shield/heuristics;
• Bitdefender, although what I've read really varies in terms of reports on how system-intensive it is;
• Others I've seen with varying reports of being lightweight and/or effective: Norton (remember years ago when it was really, really slow); F-Secure; Zone Alarm... or open to other suggestions!
• Or is Webroot an option I should consider? Is it actually secure? The concept sounds great, and it would definitely not slow my system down (right?).

Sorry, I've just spent several hours reading everything I could find about different programs, scraping/compiling to try to find the "perfect program," and there is so much contradictory info (other than that Avira is lightweight) that I thought I'd go to some unbiased experts .

Thanks much.

 

[Windows Defender Shill]

I've used Webroot recently with Windows 10

And I can't explain why, but using Windows Defender is the MOST resource friendly AV I can run on my system.

I personally like Webroot, but Windows Defender is just highly integrated and optimized for Windows.

 

[Malfhas]

Hello,

It's been more than 3 years since I was an F-Secure customer and frankly I've never seen such a light product on system resources.

I have tested a lot of products until even today, and I still have not found better.

For example, Kaspersky Internet Security 2016 had a slight impact on the performance of my system, I felt it (maybe that version 2017 and lighter or even the 2018 and 2019 that I was surprised to see ).

I found BitDefender lighter than Kaspersky in general.

Norton too, almost no impact but too much false positive.


At the moment I test the beta version of FS Security and it is really a pleasure, I have the impression of not having antivirus (the only difference I noted is the opening of my Windows session slightly longer).

 

[ZeroDay]

KIS 2018 is really a pleasure to use I have it tweaked with TAM enabled and I still don't feel it running on my system it's extremely light and considering the level of protection it offers that's a massive achievement. I've always liked Kaspersky, but in the past it was very heavy, I can assure you that's no longer the case. I tried NIS too which was very light but, in my opinion it doesn't offer anywhere near the level of protection that Kaspersky does. I might try Bitdefender 2018 but past experience has put me off a bit, it's always had bugs and their support is shockingly bad, but I'll give it a try even though it's only a beta. Avast free offers a great level of protection and it's extremely light, you could even add Voodooshield if you felt the need, also disabling Windows script host offers a lot of protection.

 

[Malfhas]

KIS 2018 is really a pleasure to use I have it tweaked with TAM enabled and I still don't feel it running on my system it's extremely light and considering the level of protection it offers that's a massive achievement. I've always liked Kaspersky, but in the past it was very heavy, I can assure you that's no longer the case. I tried NIS too which was very light but, in my opinion it doesn't offer anywhere near the level of protection that Kaspersky does. I might try Bitdefender 2018 but past experience has put me off a bit, it's always had bugs and their support is shockingly bad, but I'll give it a try even though it's only a beta. Avast free offers a great level of protection and it's extremely light, you could even add Voodooshield if you felt the need, also disabling Windows script host offers a lot of protection.

KIS 2018 is lighter than Norton Security (2017) or F-Secure SAFE (2017)?

 

[ZeroDay]

KIS 2018 is lighter than Norton Security (2017) or F-Secure SAFE (2017)?

I can't speak for F Secure as It's been a long time since I've used it, but KIS 2018 is very light and it has more features than NIS. It really is impressive on just how light it feels on the system with all its different modules and I have it tweaked for maximum protection.

 

[drakester]

I'm still debating whether to go Bitdefender Internet Security or Kaspersky Internet Security. KIS is top notch but BD seems a bit lighter. I have keys for both but I don't know if my previous experience with Kaspersky (being a bit heavy in the past) has me kinda biased I guess

 

[Windows Defender Shill]

I'm still debating whether to go Bitdefender Internet Security or Kaspersky Internet Security. KIS is top notch but BD seems a bit lighter. I have keys for both but I don't know if my previous experience with Kaspersky (being a bit heavy in the past) has me kinda biased I guess

There is nothing special about the Bitdefender firewall

I would go with the Anti-virus version if choosing Bitdefender.

 

[ttto]

the lightest ones are Webroot and Norton, and obviously, windows defender

 

[Lord Ami]

Hello,

It's been more than 3 years since I was an F-Secure customer and frankly I've never seen such a light product on system resources.

I have tested a lot of products until even today, and I still have not found better.

For example, Kaspersky Internet Security 2016 had a slight impact on the performance of my system, I felt it (maybe that version 2017 and lighter or even the 2018 and 2019 that I was surprised to see ).

I found BitDefender lighter than Kaspersky in general.

Norton too, almost no impact but too much false positive.


At the moment I test the beta version of FS Security and it is really a pleasure, I have the impression of not having antivirus (the only difference I noted is the opening of my Windows session slightly longer).

I can second on that. I'd put FS on par with Webroot Really really light (which is weird if you ask me). But it is...

Avast - current beta seems the smoothest of all. Really nice browsing speed and system speed too. Avast for me has been a bit mixed bag - sometimes light, and sometimes seems to cause some mysterious little slowdowns.

Not sure why, but Bitdefender Free has felt a little slow to me. Probably it needs to "work in" for a week until it gets to full speed.

 

[lobo001]

Why not EAM !!

 

[amico81]

Avast and Panda are very light on my pc (i7 3770k and SSD). Kaspersky and Bitdefender IS with a little impact

 

[anoukq]

Bitdefender free works pretty good.
voodoo shield is another program to look at and understand how it works, to complement free AV.

other question about your computer:
1) when was the last time you did a format/clean install?
2) what apps do you have on your computer that u use?
3) what apps are in 'startup' in task manager? or are running in background and taking resources? (screenshot task manager details tab - but make sure u do below action first so everyone can see how much ram those processes actually use and how much max they have used after u have used computer for a few days or so, so dont shutdown computer just put to sleep, then it retains the max memory used number and will show max usage)
4) in task manager, go to details tab, right click any column heading > select columns > add: working set, peak working set, private working set,
- use those 3 new columns open, and use ur laptop as u normally would for a few days. See how much of your RAM gets used by each process and which they are.

doing those things will tell u more about ur installation and how much resources it uses (for each AV program too).

don't waste time with avira free. definition detection is good, but behavior detection is effectively non-existent.
and its scanning portion takes too much time/resources, and it will always scan entire system when it finds any malware file.
I used Bitdefender free lots before buying it, and it was light on my laptop (similar to urs, except i used it with regular harddrive + separate caching ssd, pretty similar to ur hybrid harddrive i guess).

also, in this forum MW Hub that section where ppl provide malware samples, then ppl test them using different AV and share results, go thru that and read that.
Gives u good idea how some AV are good at behavior detection and others arent that good. Most AV are similar when it comes to definition detection (unless its a not very good AV that gets definition update slow or not good detection)
lots of times they show screenshot of processes, usually u can see how much RAM each AV software processes are using in that too (gives u an idea how much RAM it will use, especially when dealing with malware).

Sorry getting back so late! I actually didn't realize I was still getting messages and just installed Avira. Didn't like it that much but I will say my performance was much better.

But then--due to my penchant for tinkering above my pay grade sigh--I temporarily disabled what appeared to multiple dupes of old/irrelevant drivers etc. Bad move. While some might have been extraneous, I picked at least one that wasn't (my i/o driver?), and even though I did restore point, I wasn't able to restore because the most recent version of Windows had a bug where some files prevented restore/reset (I think it's since been fixed but I've had it with Windows 10).

So I am doing a clean install right now, actually, so an ideal time to pick a new AV. Will look at what everyone says and try to pick something... looks like consensus is Bitdefender or going back to Avast.

Thank you for the troubleshooting tips, btw. I did have a ton of programs on my computer, but was diligent about not having them autostart unless necessary--really just the AV and System Restore point creator. Hopefully a clean install (and less messing around) will help.

 

[anoukq]

WD + NVT ERP (lockdown) + WFC

Not even a single nanoparticle can come in/out alive.

thanks--what is NVT ERP? WFC is the Binisoft Windows Firewall Control program, right?

 

[lab34]

WFC, yes, Windows Firewall Control
NVT ERP=NoVirusThanks EXE Radar Pro

yes, a lots of acronym here on MT !

 

[anoukq]

Thank you guys for your explanation.

Makes me feel better for changing to Avast awhile ago.

They used to be light back in the days but not sure what happened to them.

I've used them in the past and even recommended them to my friends and relative.

Hope they can be great again.

Actually, I don't think it is just our subjective opinions on this: like I said, I did a lot of research and at least one of the big three benchmarking companies had a really bad performance grade for it. That said, I know it varies from system to system...

 

[anoukq]

WFC, yes, Windows Firewall Control
NVT ERP=NoVirusThanks EXE Radar Pro

yes, a lots of acronym here on MT !

Sorry, was just going to post that I googled it (duh!) and found it. Since you're here anyway, I'll ask: is there a free alternative to NVT (or Voodooshield)? And is there a reason you prefer the former to the latter? What about AppGuard?

Thanks!

 

[lab34]

Since you're here anyway, I'll ask:

I let the other reply, my current combos are CFW+BD and CFW+360TS

 

[anoukq]

Well I was frankly kind of surprised that everybody likes Windows Defender so much, but given that it's recommended I'm definitely going to try it in conjunction with probably Voodoo Shield, which has a free version apparently. If anyone knows of any better alternatives for a second layer of protection, I'm all ears. Thanks so much! This is a great friendly forum.

 

[russ0408]

If your computer is having a lot of slow downs with average software, why don't you start reading up on Linux. Linux Mint Cinnamon 18.1 is pretty easy to learn, and it's pretty close to Windows 7. It's a lot lighter on your computer than Windows 10, and new software is being developed for it every day.

 

[AtlBo]

So I am doing a clean install right now, actually, so an ideal time to pick a new AV. Will look at what everyone says and try to pick something... looks like consensus is Bitdefender or going back to Avast.

Might be a good idea to try for this on a new installation if you don't have it already:

Competition/Limited - 1000 free licenses Revo Uninstaller

Free Revo Pro key.